The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.
Satellite television has become increasingly popular due to the wide variety of content and the quality of content available. A satellite television system typically includes a set top box that is used to receive the satellite signals and decode the satellite signals for use on a television. The set top box typically has a memory associated therewith. The memory may include a digital video recorder or the like as well as the operating code for the set top box.
Satellite television systems typically broadcast content to a number of users simultaneously in a system. Satellite television systems also offer subscription or pay-per-view access to broadcast content. Access is provided using signals broadcast from the satellite. Once access is provided the user can access the particular content. The broadcasting of a large selection of channels and pay-per-view programs uses a considerable amount of satellite resources.
Content providers are increasingly trying to determine additional ways to provide content to users. Some content may be desired by a small number of customers. In such a case using valuable satellite resources at peak viewing times may not be cost effective. Less popular content may be broadcast by satellite at less popular viewing times, or may be available for downloading on demand via a broadband connection. Such content may be received and stored by a digital video recorder for later viewing.
A content delivery network is typically used to deliver content to the client device through a terrestrial network. The content delivery network may be controlled by a separate entity compared to the provider of the broadcast services. Typically, a publisher actively transfers data to the content delivery network as the content becomes available. This is known as data push or data pre-cache.
On-demand content is one example of content that may be provided by the content delivery network. Oftentimes, the content to be provided is a relatively large data file. For example, a movie is oftentimes one and a half to two hour in length. The data size of such file is large. In a typical content delivery method, the entire content is communicated as one file. This limits the client device front viewing the content until the entire file is created.
To allow a client device to begin playback of the content sooner, the content may be broken up into chunks smaller than the entire content. After one or more chunks are received, playback may begin. One problem with providing content in chunks is that a significant amount of processing overhead and delay may prevent smooth video rendering. That is, each content chunk acts as a separate file and therefore the security is changed for each content chunk. Separate tokens are typically required as well as management of the tokens in each chunk. This can cause a delay in providing the chunks to the client.
Providing protection for content from unauthorized use is also important. Oftentimes a service provider is obligated to the rights holders to protect the content during streaming. One type of threat that unauthorized users may obtain is access to a content universal resource locator. This is known as link sharing. Another way in which unauthorized users obtain access to content is called deep linking. In deep linking, a player is decompiled and a hidden URL is extracted and posted in a hacker's website. Other ways that theft may occur is that while content is being delivered the stream may be duplicated or redirected. Also, content may be stolen directly from a browser, player cache or storage medium.